Incentives for Aussies Who Get the COVID Vaccine Are on the Cards

Money, ice cream and pizza. One of everything please.

As Australia falls behind the rest of the world in rolling out the COVID-19 vaccination, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly says the government is now looking into offering incentives to persuade Aussies to get the jab.

As it stands, Australia has given out 3.69 million doses of the vaccine with 419,000 people fully vaccinated. That equals 1.7 per cent of the population.

To put that into perspective, the United States have vaccinated almost 40 per cent of their population with the UK sitting just behind them on 35 per cent.

At the moment, Australia is only a small part of the way through Phase 1b of the jab rollout, which includes frontline workers, people over the age of 70, adults over 50 with medical conditions and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over 50.

The fact Australia is lagging behind has led to Kelly revealing the government is serious about incentivising the country to book in their jab.

“I think we really do need to look for incentives, as many incentives as we can for the people to become vaccinated,” Professor Kelly said in a press conference on Monday.

“Some of these incentives will be talked about in the coming days and weeks, but I think the main incentive is because it’s going to actually protect you, your family and the community.”

Obviously, we couldn’t agree more. Getting the jab for the sake of community protection is already a big enough incentive, but if free ice cream is on the cards then who are we to say no?

I think a good enough #vaccine incentive for me is not dying

— J.Bird (@JB_Bird) May 20, 2021

Looking around the rest of the world, governments are getting creative in how to convince people to get vaccinated.

In Ohio, adults who have received their first vaccine have the chance to win $US1 million. The state is hosting five weekly lotteries, each giving away $US1 million. Dayum.

Even better: for Ohioans under 18 who get the jab, they could win one of five full scholarships up for grabs. If you know how much college in America is, then you understand that’s a big deal.

Get your COVID-19 shot and get a shot at $1 million! Enter now at https://t.co/Pwu7pI4qK0 or call 1-833-4-ASK-ODH to learn more. #OhioVaxaMillion #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/OAaWtLvzyN

— Ohio Lottery (@OHLottery) May 20, 2021

New York has followed Ohio’s lead with a similar lotto called Vax and Scratch. Lovin’ the name NY.

In Europe, Russians are being given free ice cream while Serbians are being given the equivalent of $40 if they get their first shot before the end of May.

Israel is leading the way in our eyes though, with pop-up vaccine clinics giving away free pizza, hummus and knafeh (a sweet Middle Eastern dessert) to anyone who shows up.

Inspired by this creativity, here's our list of suggestions that the government should offer to get Aussies vaccinated:

• National Bunnings sausage sizzle
• A day off school/work for your dose
• A fiver ($5) for your Pfizer
• Bali vacation for your inoculation

Can someone please send those ideas to ScoMo ASAP? 

Did you guys hear the news? Bunnings has been contacted by Scomo's government to take charge of the vaccine rollout! Free sausage sizzle with every jab. They'll even beat the price of Pfizer vaccines by 10%. 😜

— Rose of Persia😷💉 (@PersiaPhotos) April 17, 2021

Header Image: CDC via Unsplash